---
title: Having placed the calabash some little distance off, Akoba said that… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · tree and pragmatics
description: Having placed the calabash some little distance off, Akoba said that anyone who wanted to marry her must hit the calabash with a small stone. Who acts: Akoba, anyone. A sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to
---

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# Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 59

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Having placed the calabash some little distance off, Akoba said that anyone who wanted to marry her must hit the calabash with a small stone.

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**Who acts:** Akoba, anyone · **What happens:** have off, place, say, want, marry, hit · **To what, where:** placed calabash, Akoba, calabash · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Akoba, anyone), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg70959:5:59
# text = Having placed the calabash some little distance off, Akoba said that anyone who wanted to marry her must hit the calabash with a small stone.
1	Having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
2	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	amod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	calabash	calabash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
8	off	off	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
10	Akoba	Akoba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
13	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	20	nsubj	_	_
14	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
15	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	hit	hit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	calabash	calabash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have off** | gerund | Akoba *not said here* | the placed calabash |  |  |  | some little distance *obj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **place** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Akoba |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **want** | past |  |  |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **marry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | Akoba |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |
| 6 | **hit** | must | anyone | the calabash |  |  |  | with a small stone | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent calabash=Patient with stone=Instrument |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Project Gutenberg book 70959 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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